Defensive Points Secure Jennings Win at Clayton Homecoming

The Jennings Warriors' ball-hawking defense snatched two interceptions from freshman quarterback Jake Brown and ran them back for scores Saturday to spoil the Greyhounds' homecoming and come away with a 42-18 victory.

The first interception came on the second play of the game when Brown tried to hit a receiver on a quick slant. Senior defensive back Damon Howell read the pass, picked it off and weaved through traffic 40 yards to score the touchdown.

Howell ran in the subsequent conversion attempt to give Jennings (4-1, 2-1 Suburban East) the early lead.

The second pick-six came just before halftime. Clayton (2-3, 2-1) had just recovered a fumble on the Warriors' 20 yard line, but on the first play of the drive defensive lineman Neal Donnel jumped in the air to grab Brown's pass and rumbled into the end zone. The score at halftime was 22-12.

Jennings head coach Ryan Wallace said that while his team made mistakes of its own early on, the two interceptions set the table for a big day.

“It's always nice when you get points from your defense,” Wallace said.

Jennings relied on a strong running game led by Howell and senior running back Raheim Holloway to keep the Greyhounds off the field, run the clock and score points.

Holloway found the end zone in the first quarter on a 2-yard run, while Howell scored twice. It first happened on a 60-yard scramble and later on an 89-yard sprint. Both came in the fourth quarter.

Backup running back Micheal Eaton, a senior, came into the game late to relieve Howell and scored a touchdown of his own on a 55-yard run.

Howell said Jennings' success stemmed from good blocking by its offensive line.

“Our line stepped up and blocked,” Howell said. “They had a much better game than last week.

“I just followed behind them and found open space and ran. It's a big win for us, coming into their homecoming.”

Brown did not let the interceptions stop him from passing. He threw two touchdowns of his own, both to junior running back Aaron Adams. The first came on a 47-yard pass in the first quarter, and the second happened in the opening seconds of the fourth.

Clayton scored a defensive touchdown of its own in the first quarter when junior linebacker Devin Cunningham recovered a fumble and ran it back 30 yards for the score. Cunningham's touchdown was not enough to slow down the Warriors' offense, though.

Greyhounds head coach Scott Weissman said a lack of focus prevented his squad from keeping the score close.

“We just got tired,” Weissman said. “We just kept making mistakes. We had a couple of kids banged up, and we missed some blitz pickups.

“They are a good football team, and they did what they needed to do to win.”

Jennings will try to continue its success next week when it travels to Berkeley, while Clayton will face Normandy.